So I called the special diets line because when we made reservations last week it said that you can call special diets within 2 weeks of the reservation to tell them your issues. The lady said that all sit down places can accommodate me without any early notification because every sit down place has a vegetarian menu that can be made vegan and then they can sub in GF stuff where it's needed. Uhm, what? Then what's up with the form they gave me that I'm supposed to send in?

Also, Cinderella's breakfast is $90 for me and the kid - am I really content to know that they'll figure it out when I get there? Not so much.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

So I called the special diets line because when we made reservations last week it said that you can call special diets within 2 weeks of the reservation to tell them your issues. The lady said that all sit down places can accommodate me without any early notification because every sit down place has a vegetarian menu that can be made vegan and then they can sub in GF stuff where it's needed. Uhm, what? Then what's up with the form they gave me that I'm supposed to send in?

Also, Cinderella's breakfast is $90 for me and the kid - am I really content to know that they'll figure it out when I get there? Not so much.

ok, i don't know so much about the gf stuff, but not every place has a veg menu. when michael and i had dinner in england we had a bit of an issue. i had called the reservations line 100 billion times before we got there (starting about a month before, then calling pretty much every week for every reservation to make sure they had us down as vegan). at each restaurant you get a little receipt thingie that has your reservation number and any allergies you might have stamped on it. earlier in the trip all of ours had "vegan" on it. when we got to england, nothing was on it, so i asked the waitress as soon as we sat down. she said she didn't have anything indicating vegan and they were pretty much totally unprepared. the chef was kind of a croissant and came out and was all... "so what do you want?" no suggestions, no going over the menu to tell us what she could make vegan. every other place had a vegan menu planned out for us or they took us through the menu and told us what they could make vegan and we had a wide variety to choose from.

i found one veg item on the menu - a pot pie with cheese and i asked her if she could make it without the cheese. "i guess so." thanks? it's a good thing the pot pie was really good or i would have complained to disney.

anyway, my point is to call, call, and call again. call a few times the day of the reservation and be a pain in the asparagus just to make sure you get what you want because, yeah, you're paying a shiitake ton of money for a lot of this stuff.

_________________I'm one of those vegans that cuts corners when it comes to things like breastfeeding and stabbing you in the face~PranjalThat story would be adorable if it didn't end with herpes. ~Mo

Cinderella's will be a huge disappointment if you show up without having arranged a special meal ahead of time. You will end up eating a bowl of plain fruit. Their vegetarian breakfast options are pastries, yogurt and granola, and french toast, so you can't really request that any of it be made vegan. I'm not sure about the vegan/GF-ness of the granola, but you might be able to have that with soymilk (they have little individual Silk boxes). Basically it'll be lame either way. Having spent a lot of time in their pantry (I used to stock the kitchen sometimes), I know they have specialty ingredients they never use, like GF pancake/waffle mix. They can get other stuff if they need to, provided they have enough notice. Keep calling and demand that they be prepared for you. Don't listen to that lady at the dining line!

Actually, the best thing you can do for CRT is to physically come by the restaurant the day before your reservation and talk to them in person. If you happen to be in the park, do that. Disney makes it hard to talk to them directly because they don't have a public outside phone line.

Two more things I thought of:If you're staying on property, ask the concierge at your hotel to confirm your dining reservations and make sure all your appropriate allergies are listed in there. They can make notes on the reservations and check all the appropriate boxes. It should all be taken care of already by the dining line, but you never know.And! Request a window seat at CRT. They can't always accomodate requests, but it's worth asking.

Too late! I did indeed get fruit and frozen van's waffles at CRT, but it was a great experience otherwise (and we got a window table that was the 3rd table princesses visited after they came in!). I'm trying to get all my pics together of the food and then I'll food porn them.

Places that made me from scratch waffles were: 1900 Park Fare, Kona, The Mara and something I totally just forgot.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

My family is going to Universal for Thanksgiving. We'll be staying in a condo offsite somewhere in the Celebration area. We'll get in late that Wednesday and will be bringing food for that night and for Thursday. I'm well aware that there's hardly anything to eat in the park (hopefully I can take a satchel in with snacks?) It's been ages since we were there last, and I don't remember the policies. I'd like to eat at a few restaurants in the area that weekend. My list includes Ethos, Drunken Monkey, Raphsodic, and maybe Dandelion. I took my mother to the Loving Hut in Paris and I'm pretty sure I won't be getting her into another one. I enjoyed it, but I will not have my own transportation. I'm not positive how willing my family will be to eat at any of these restaurants, so I'd like to have some omni-friendly options available also. Mellow Mushroom is the only thing that comes to mind. I've checked out the page on Happy Cow, but I'd like some first-hand suggestions. If it comes down to it, I have the option of grocery shopping and keeping things at the condo.

_________________My last Craigslist ad "Bangable Panda for You" got only a few responses and they all just said 'send pic' or 'black and white or red?' - pandacookieI don't want anyone here who doesn't know every forking line to Willy Wonka. - Fee

Drunken Monkey has both omni and vegan options. The vegan stuff is clearly marked. My ex even liked eating there and he is really picky. It's a coffee house with sandwiches. Ethos is really good and has food that while vegan should be familiar to your family. The Loving Hut in Orlando is near Drunken Monkey but it's small and they keep their religious TV show cranked up loud enough that you can't really ignore it. (this might have changed)The bakery is good but parking is terrible in that area. Drunken Monkey generally carries vegan baked goods if you want a brownie or something as a treat.

_________________A whole lot of access and privilege goes into being sanctimonious pricks J-DubDessert is currently a big bowl of sanctimonious, passive aggressive vegan enduced boak. FezzaYou people are way less funny than Pandacookie. Sucks to be you.-interrobang?!

Where do you folks get your nooch?? I just moved over to the UCF area and I know all the restaurants pretty well, but shopping is difficult sometimes if I don't want to drive across town or spend an arm and a leg. And I need my nooch!!!

Where do you folks get your nooch?? I just moved over to the UCF area and I know all the restaurants pretty well, but shopping is difficult sometimes if I don't want to drive across town or spend an arm and a leg. And I need my nooch!!!

I live in Tampa, not Orlando, but aren't there two big Whole Foods there? WF has it in bulk bins.

My parents and I made reservations at Boma and I ended up being really disappointed. I knew the days of TJ were over but figured it'd still be a safe bet based on reviews. My dad is celiac and they were far more accommodating to GF than vegan. The chef came out and quickly walked us both through the buffet, pointing out what we could eat. At the end the chef asked me if there was anything he could make. I said, "I wouldn't even know what to ask for," but he didn't offer any suggestions and left us. There were only two actual dishes on the buffet that were vegan, so I mostly ate pitas and hummus, fruit, and salad. The chef did make me a bowl of root veggies without butter, but nothing was really substantial. They had a vegan sorbet but forgot to bring it out with my dad's GF dessert and I didn't bother asking for it at that point.

I kind of wish we'd spent more money and made reservations at Ohana or Jiko, but I had my baby with me so I didn't really feel comfortable going somewhere nicer.

But the next day we went to Ethos, which was great! We had their Sunday brunch and had a great time sitting outside on their patio.

Other than that, I mostly ate at Whole Foods. They had lots of vegan stuff on their salad bar, including some amazing seitan! And vegan Bavarian donuts!

Did you mention the dietary restrictions when you made the reservations?

_________________A whole lot of access and privilege goes into being sanctimonious pricks J-DubDessert is currently a big bowl of sanctimonious, passive aggressive vegan enduced boak. FezzaYou people are way less funny than Pandacookie. Sucks to be you.-interrobang?!

we stayed at animal kingdom and boma was always packed. i made a reservation for all of us (my family plus the in-laws) and everyone canceled out on me so we never went. it's weird they weren't helpful though because even the chef at the quick serve by the pool was super helpful and nice.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

they were kind of a pain about the restrictions when i called - the reservations people kept saying I didn't have to tell them and just to tell the restaurants when i got there. i will say i think i got treated better because i'm gluten intolerant so i just kept saying i was allergic to gluten and i think they take allergies more serious.

i super miss disney and the animal kingdom resort. sigh.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

The only change in the advice here that I am aware of is that Ethos has moved to another location with better parking!

_________________A whole lot of access and privilege goes into being sanctimonious pricks J-DubDessert is currently a big bowl of sanctimonious, passive aggressive vegan enduced boak. FezzaYou people are way less funny than Pandacookie. Sucks to be you.-interrobang?!

I follow GF Disney and she posted this earlier: Sassagoula Floatworks & Food factory at Port Orleans French Quarter has gluten free/dairy free beignets!! The Special Diets Department has confirmed that can be prepared without gluten, dairy, egg, and soy ingredients if given advance notice!

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

holy shiitake universal has the worst customer service EVER. i emailed through their site to ask about mine and the kid's food issues, and I got the standard "you'll get a reply in 48 hours" email. within 48 hours i got an email that said they'd forwarded my info onto the person in charge of sharing that info and i'd hear from her in 48 hours. I didn't. i replied to the email and got a call saying they were so sorry and i'd hear from them in 48 hours. i didn't. it went on from there, i called a few times, never helpful. with the military discount (HA), it's $506 for 4 of us to get into Universal for the character breakfast and then to see Harry Potter, plus like $100 for the breakfast, not including the rest of the day. The kid REALLY wanted to meet minions, but that shiitake is insane. Screw you, universal.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

I follow GF Disney and she posted this earlier: Sassagoula Floatworks & Food factory at Port Orleans French Quarter has gluten free/dairy free beignets!! The Special Diets Department has confirmed that can be prepared without gluten, dairy, egg, and soy ingredients if given advance notice!

Did you try these? I'm trying to decide if making the trek is worth it while we're nearby.

Any updates on anything food-wise at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure? We're going in September and I'm so flippin' excited! Googling makes me think that probably the only things I'll be eating at the park are french fries and pumpkin juice, but I'm planning on making PBJs and tofurkey sandwiches and just eating those. That also works because we're trying to do this trip as cheaply as we can. If there's anything new and interesting in the world of vegan food at Universal, please let me know!

_________________I am not a troll. I am TELLING YOU THE ******GOD'S TRUTH****** AND YOU JUST DON'T WANT THE HEAR IT DO YOU?